Air Force coach claims Army has lots of advantages

Air Force has owned Army in their football series over the past quarter century.

Sal Interdonato

Air Force has owned Army in their football series over the past quarter century.

The Falcons have won 22 of the teams' last 25 meetings. Coach Troy Calhoun is 5-0 against Army entering his team's game Saturday at Michie Stadium.

Yet Calhoun, who has won 63 percent of his games in six seasons at Air Force, said his team is battling the odds when it lines up against its service-academy rival.

Calhoun cited a number of Army advantages, including paid housing for coaches at West Point.

"At West Point, they are going to spend millions on coaches' housing, where here it's going to be zero," said Calhoun, who lives off campus.

Army coach Rich Ellerson lives in the same house that legendary coach Earl "Red" Blaik lived in on campus in the 1940s and 1950s.

"I don't pretend to understand their housing arrangements, but I thought their coaches lived on base," Ellerson said Wednesday. "Maybe they have to pay for it and we only our utilities or something. I don't know."

Calhoun's list of Army advantages didn't end with housing.

"Their location and a significant amount of population, where here that's not the case," Calhoun said. "The other part is there you go back and they have all of those national championships and all of those Heisman winners. You have to realize because the other place has something doesn't mean that you deserve that because we don't."

Army won national titles from 1944-46. Pete Dawkins was Army's last Heisman Trophy winner in 1958.

Ellerson said Calhoun is doing his best spin doctoring.

"He's got a team that's on a little bit of a roll and they are playing a team that's been struggling," Ellerson said. "He's trying to make sure his guys are on the edge. He, in his mind, is trying to create a little bit of an underdog mentality, I suspect. 'Poor us.' That's OK."

Ellerson disagreed with Calhoun's take on Army having an edge because of its location.

"I would argue, yes we are closer to New York City than they are," Ellerson said. "They are closer to Denver. Have you've ever been to Colorado Springs? They've got Colorado Springs at the gate. We have trees."

Calhoun isn't talking like a coach whose team has won three in a row and is on the verge of its sixth straight bowl appearance. He continued to take shots at Army during his weekly meeting with local media Tuesday afternoon.

"If you want to find ways for a team where you can kind of massage your own schedule as it goes," Calhoun said, referring to Army's independent status. "There are no advantages this week. None. If you want to take guys out of basic training for four or five nights toward the end of basic training and make it easier for their freshmen especially during the month of August and September. We don't have those advantages here."

Ellerson pointed to Air Force's advantage in recruiting.

"There's no doubt that there's some sex appeal that goes with that fighter plane, and those machines are cool," Ellerson said. "There's some pragmatics in that. I think we have 65,000 service members in Afghanistan today and 60,000 of them are soldiers.

"That's not to say that the Air Force aren't (serving). Those guys are serving and those guys are doing great and honorable things. This is a different path."

Ellerson said he could count on one hand the recruiting battles he's won against Air Force.

"We've got some," Ellerson said. "We've got some really good ones. But we only have a couple. Most of them go there."

Another Army advantage?

"To be honest, I like their campus better than ours," said Air Force senior linebacker Alex Means. "They have a nice stadium to play in."

Means, who has talked to Army exchange students, believes Army players might have it tougher than the Falcons.

"We definitely kind of have it easier with the stuff they have to do," Means said.